Container shipping lines are shifting more of their all-water services from Asia to the U.S. East Coast to the Suez Canal route, instead of sailing through the Panama Canal.
West Coast Ports
Productivity is the name of the game for West Coast ports leading up to the expansion of the Panama Canal in 2015. Unlike many of the ports on the East and Gulf coasts that are deepening their harbors and enlarging their marine terminals to prepare for the mega-ships that will begin transiting the canal in 2015, the major West Coast gateways already have 50-foot harbors and terminals of 100 to more than 400 acres in size.
In order to prevent an erosion of market share to East Coast ports, the Seattle-Tacoma, Oakland and Los Angeles-Long Beach gateways must improve their efficiency in unloading vessels, moving containers through the yards and expediting the departure of containers by truck and intermodal rail.
The 25 to 26 container moves per crane per hour that mark West Coast port operations must be increased to at least 30 moves per hour. Terminal operators are exploring options for automating yard, gate and on-dock rail operations. The busiest terminals will invest in costly equipment such as dual-hoist cranes, automated guided vehicles and automated stacking cranes. The ports of Los Angeles and Long Beach, which together handle about 40 percent of U.S. imports from Asia, will spend more than $7 billion in the coming decade on larger, more efficient terminals and improved connectivity to rail and highway networks.
Offering a transit time advantage of a week to 10 days to the U.S. interior, and the potential for reducing per-slot vessel costs by hundreds of dollars with the arrival of vessels having a capacity of 13,000-TEU capacity, West Coast ports want to beat the canal by even further expanding their 70 percent market share of U.S. imports from Asia.
Press Releases
Special Coverage
23 May 2013
When the Los Angeles City Council on May 8 approved the final environmental impact report for construction of BNSF Railway’s $500 million near-dock intermodal yard in Southern California, the approval proved to be the beginning of a journey rather than the end of a saga.
20 May 2013
The Port of Oakland’s containerized throughput rose 1.4 percent year-over-year in April, reaching 190,727 20-foot-equivalent units, including both laden and empty containers.
20 May 2013
Canada’s West Coast container ports stayed level in the first quarter of 2013 with the robust growth they experienced last year. When compared with the first quarter of 2012, Canadian ports saw a higher throughput volume in the first quarter of 2013, but a slight dip in West Coast traffic market share.
16 May 2013
LONG BEACH, Calif. — As North American container ports compete fiercely for market share, it’s becoming clear that the winners will be those that reliably and efficiently handle mega-ships on the water and land side of the berths.
16 May 2013
The Senate's passage of the Water Resources Development Act on Wednesday paves the way for increased investment in ports, and speedier completion of maritime and inland waterway projects. Because the bill is 294 pages and far from a page-turner, The Journal of Commerce decided to break down what the Senate version calls for and what challenges the legislation faces ahead.
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Video
Mayor of Los Angeles Antonio Villaraigosa details how the port has become an industry leader in cutting its carbon footprint and how it will stay competitive in the coming years.
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